Merry Christmas from Pakistan 2005

I last wrote about our sandbag shelter in the village of Surul. After heading back to Surul we discovered that the military and an NGO (non-government organisation - a kind of charity) had turned up and supplied the villagers with CGI (you gotta get down with the lingo.CGI is corrugated iron, basically big sheets of tin, for roofs). This was fantastic news. It meant that the village we'd fallen in love with was sorted in a way that we could never have financially afforded. It meant that we could supply a few thousand sandbags & they could build really excellent shelters. As sandbags are really cheap, but CGI is ridiculously expensive, we had ample funds left over to put into another village.

Trying to help:

The next mission was to find another village where no NGOs were working (when we arrived, Surul had been one, but during the time we'd been there, it had obviously been added to someone's list). We started looking for a village where no CGI was going to be distributed and the villagers would otherwise be trying to live in tents this winter.  There are a lot of villages like this, but trying to find them is a bit of a nightmare.it's not worth getting into, but this is basically due to an overwhelming lack of communication between NGOs, the UN and the military.

So, we spent about 10 days surveying villages; hitching around Kashmir in Lorries, relief trucks, UN jeeps, cars and all manner of army vehicles, complete with lots of men with big guns. Trying to track down data, we found ourselves in meetings with NGOs, deputy commissioners, the UN and the army. There was usually no time for breakfast or lunch, so we survived on a diet of chai (milky sugar with a dash of tea). we'd often eat our first 'meal' at 8pm before hitching back to the road near our camp.then start the exhausting one hour vertical hike back up to our icebox, errr.I mean, tents. If we didn't get food in town, then we'd start the laborious process of cooking on an open fire, which involved many trips to the nearby stream, which was a 5 minute climb away (I'm now accustomed to carrying litres of water on my heid!). Now that I've been in Islamabad (the capital) for a wee while, I really miss it all. But up there now it'll be absolutely freezing.our tent collapsed one morning because of the snow. Although admittedly that was a one off, the snows are fortunately late this year. I'm so glad that they've got decent shelters, so when the snows do come, they'll be alright.

Once we'd found a number of villages which seemed to be what we were looking for, we set about trying to track down accurate information - e.g. number of houses, and population. Unless you've tried to work in this part of the world, with its bureaucratic procedures, it's difficult to explain how arduous this is.  All data is totally conflicting. One source would tell us a village we wanted to supply to have 28 houses, whilst another source would give double or triple this number!  This makes knowing how much stuff to purchase a tad tricky. 

The whole thing's been a bit like a game of snakes and ladders. One day we'd feel like we were almost at the cup. We'd climbed a few metaphorical ladders, using NGOs' data to skip some levels. Then the next thing we knew, we'd rolled a two, and find out that the population was actually 4 times what we'd been told it was and we didn't have enough funds to help.and we'd be down that snake, right back at the start!

A few of our crew left a few days ago to survey a village in Kashmir .  The village has literally nothing, except really bad tents, so they're desperately in need.  The locals have been building frames for new houses/shelters and now they're basically waiting for CGI for the roofs.  As this is a smaller village than Surul, we have funds to supply the whole village. Something we really have on our minds is that we have to fully serve the village. For obvious reasons, we don't want to go to a place where our funds will only stretch to helping half the village. We have to be able to provide for everyone, to ensure its fair.  It's also important to us that the people are really those in need...all the people in this village have 'kutcha' houses (traditional mud brick buildings), which means they have no existing materials with which to rebuild their houses.  

And so it goes. On and on.  "Inshallah" (a much used phrase here, meaning 'at god's will') we will be buying enough CGI tomorrow to serve over 200 households, that's helping over 1,500 people. And really, we've raised some money from some small NGOs, but the cash has all come from you.friends and family. of course, if anyone else wants to donate, it's not too late.you can pay money in via pay pal, visit http://nomadvolunteers.blogspot.com bohd shukreea/many thanks.

And looking to the future..I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in Pakistan .  I have 2 choices.  I can either go to a tent village and volunteer there, or if I feel too exhausted, then I'll cello back to India .  To be honest, what I feel like doing often depends how well the project's going. When it's all going well (and we're near the end of the game of snakes & ladders) I feel like I could go to a refugee camp & help there. When it's not been such a good day, I dream of India and returning to travelling. So, who knows.but one thing's for sure. I'll be in Pakistan for Xmas.I decorated our hotel room with tinsel-type things the other day and we've even found some fake snow to gas ourselves with on the day. It's not going to be turkey & and all the trimmings (I'm veggie anyhoo) but most likely we'll treat ourselves with a pizza.

\For years I've been against Xmas. Not able to see past all the consumerism and commercialization. But this year, through receiving your donations & actually being a part of something which is making a positive difference, I can see what Xmas is all about.humanity. Sorry, if that's a bit like a sermon, or sounds pretentious, but it's the way I feel.and whilst I'm preaching, please appreciate your family this year.I've been working with so many people who have lost many, close family members.so please, don't fight over the crispy turkey stuffing, or who gets the last chipolata. Love and accept each other just the way you are.

Merry Christmas from Pakistan

BY: Jenny

Useful Links: http://nomadvolunteers.blogspot.com